poison oak
by Seeker of Blonds
Summary: "She touched my webs with her bare flesh, and they learned of her fear. Now it will consume her." - basically SoMa, follows the ending of the manga, T for language


_poison oak_

* * *

They'd just cut through their umpteenth spider hatchling, left its corpse, with legs still wriggling, in two even pieces, when they came upon the webs. The thin silk was stretched taut, forming a milky-white film across the length of the tunnel. The threads were clumped into yellowish globs around the edges, gleaming with moisture from the damp tunnel. Maka huffed in disgust. "I'm not touching that," Soul offered helpfully. "Shit looks nastier than those spider things." She rolled her eyes.

"Don't be such a baby," she snapped at him. "Ugh. _Fine_." She marched up to the webs and, weaponless arm extended, pushed her way through. The material was cold and sticky where it brushed against her bare skin; Maka shivered despite herself. She tried her best to clear the webs aside with her free hand to accommodate her wuss of a partner, but she could tell from his disgusted grunts that her efforts weren't entirely successful.

After a few more minutes of beleaguered progress that felt like an eternity to the disgruntled weapon-meister pair, Maka finally shoved her way through the last web. The hot, cloistering air of the tunnel felt like a breath of fresh air in comparison. "Oh thank Death," Maka sighed in relief. Soul hummed his agreement.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and tried not to feel so disappointed. Although, she doubted he'd be able to tell anyway, as their link was tentative at best for the moment. But this was their first mission together as partners in quite some time since the moon ordeal, he was so busy being the Last Death Scytheand all… and he didn't seem to have anything… _special_ to say to her. She remembered the promise he'd made to her, to follow her wherever she went, as if she was the one who would be leaving. Ha. He was the one going somewhere far away. He didn't need her anymore. That's what she thought to herself as she watched him play, at the same time hating herself for being jealous of his music once again. Until he turned to her, as if he could read her mind. Told her what she wanted to hear—that he'd needed her all that time. And, well, to her it seemed like he was saying… that he would still need her in the future.

What if that wasn't what he meant after all?

"Hey, Maka, you alright?"

"Huh?" she blinked. His distorted face was frowning at her from the blade of his scythe.

"You were spacing off for a minute there. Something wrong in that big, geeky brain of yours?"

She puffed up her cheeks in irritation. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it, Soul."

He hesitated for only a moment before responding. "Then let's get going. I wanna shower so bad, fuck."

"Yeah, yeah. Wimp."

The mission was straight-forward. A witch turned spider queen, lost to madness and threatening the lives of both humans and witches alike. Infiltrate her lair through these creepy tunnels and end her eight-legged reign of terror. Wasn't that nostalgic? Maka thought. She supposed she should thank Kid, though. He'd been doing his best to keep Maka involved in Soul's life even as their paths continued to diverge. It was a nice gesture. She just wondered how much longer until Kid gave it up.

The whole resonance thing was probably her fault right now, she grudgingly acknowledged. Soul had reached for her wavelength so eagerly at the start of the mission, and she'd almost visibly recoiled. It physically pained her to watch his brows wrinkle in hurt confusion, but even when she could feel him hovering anxiously around her, brushing at her wavelength like a cat dips its paw into water, she couldn't bring herself to allow more than a threadbare connection. That was probably why he didn't say anything like "I missed you" or whatever silly, sappy thing she'd been hoping for. But still, she'd done her best to act as normal. Couldn't he see she was trying?

How hypocritical of her. She wanted to distance herself from him as much as possible, but still expected him to reach out to her.

They'd reached the inner sanctum. The ceiling was high and arched, supported by pillars of slimy rock. The light seeping in from outside through the tunnels wasn't enough to see clearly, but she could feel the witch's warped presence at the back of the cave-like structure. Soul's face peered up at her, eyebrows knitted in a combination of determination and something like concern. Right, probably because she was still acting weird. Oh, well. The mission would be over with soon and he wouldn't have to deal with her "crazy girl hormones", as he dubbed them. The thought made Maka's throat tight, but she pushed it out of her mind. They had to finish the mission first. Why couldn't she stop picturing his back as he left their apartment for the last time? Her skin felt clammy.

"Well, I see my little darlings didn't cause you too much trouble. You're here in one piece. What a pity."

Maka's grip on Soul's shaft tightened. She could hear, for the first time, the telltale scuttling sounds of this witch's minions. They must have alerted their master of the pair's arrival.

"If you're so well informed, then you should know that we're here to stop you, witch."

"Witch. Is that what they call me here?" Her laugh was high-pitched and harsh, reverberating through the cavern as if without a source. "I am no witch, little girl. Although it matters not at this point. My webs have touched your bare flesh."

"Well, whatever you are," Maka scoffed, and nodded at her weapon before flitting her eyes back up to where she could sense the witch's soul. "Get ready. I'll be taking your soul."

Maka lunged, a battle cry tearing itself from her throat. She was met by a writhing mass of spiders. "Not these again," she groaned.

"She's just trying to tire you out," Soul said. "Try to make your way through these things. Don't let yourself get cornered."

"Got it," Maka responded. She'd been maneuvered into a fighting circle by the twitching monsters, but was able to keep them a good distance away with her scythe's clean blows. Now she just had to find a way to move the circle closer to the witch, spider queen, or whatever it was she called herself. "Soul, can you keep an eye on our royal highness over there? I'm gonna make my way towards her. Make sure she doesn't try anything funny."

"On it."

Cold sweat was running down the back of her neck. The chattering spiders were starting to sound almost… human.

_Why can't you make up your mind, Maka?_

_Do you want him to stay or to go? You can't keep him around and push him away at the same time. He'll just end up hating you, Maka._

_You're just holding him back, Maka. He's only catering to your insecurities because he's a nice guy. That's the only reason he's still around, Maka. He doesn't want you to snap._

_If Kid didn't think you were so weak, he'd be giving Soul even more responsibilities and making him even stronger. But Kid's holding back for your sake._

_He doesn't need you. He can make his own music._

_Just give him up, Maka. Just let him go._

"Shut up!" she shrieked, swinging her scythe in a vicious arc that cleaved at least a half dozen of the little beasts in two.

"I didn't say anything!" Soul protested. "Wait. Maka, you're shaking. Are you alright?"

"I am completely and utterly fine!"

"You look like death!"

"I do not need your comments on my appearance right now, Soul! Just keep watching that stupid spider queen!"

"She hasn't moved an inch since we got here," Soul said seriously. "Something's up."

She'd successfully moved her circle within killing distance of the witch, and the stupid creature hadn't so much as blinked. "Why isn't she doing anything?" Soul demanded.

"How should I know?" Maka snarled. Those damned spiders were still hissing in her ear and she needed them to _stop_ before she completely lost it. "I _said _shut UP!"

"Maka, calm down! What's wrong?"

"It's—it's nothing!"

"It doesn't sound like nothing! You've been acting weird since the beginning of this fucking mission!"

"Soul, if I tell you it's nothing, it is nothing," she growled.

"Maka…"

_He knows you're lying, Maka._

_Now he thinks you're crazy, too, Maka. How will he bring himself to leave his crazy partner?_

_Good job, Maka. You've trapped him now._

"I'm so tired," Maka said softly. "Please stop."

"_What_?"

Three things happened at once in that moment. The spiders suddenly ceased their onslaught and retreated. The witch stepped forward, the shadows falling away from her twisted form as she approached. She was grotesque, a beautiful woman's body melted into the swollen abdomen of a spider with eight huge, furry legs. Maka's body convulsed sharply and then crumpled.

Soul transformed, barely catching her before she hit the ground. "_Maka_!" He fixed the witch with a murderous glare, arm morphing into a blade. "What the hell did you do to her?"

The witch shrugged, her eight legs shifting casually. "I told her that it was pointless. She touched my webs with her bare flesh, and they learned of her fear. Now it will consume her."

"Like hell it will!" Soul shook his meister's shoulders frantically. "Maka, come on, wake up. We still have ass to kick, right? It's not cool to pass out in the middle of a battle."

"It's funny, really."

"Funny?" he demanded, raising his blade when she took a step closer.

"The fear at the very forefront of her mind revolved entirely around you, you know." She smiled. "Do you want to know the dark thoughts that felled this little girl?"

"I'm not an idiot," Soul said bitterly. "I think I might… have an idea. Stupid. She should know better. I'd never…"

"Well, it is the weapon's job to protect the meister, is it not?"

His eyes widened.

"My webs touched that miserable metal blade of yours. It's faint, but I can feel your fears as well. Are you sure you're good enough to carry that title of yours, Last Death Scythe? After all, you couldn't even make your family proud. No, instead, you ran. It took a little girl who knew nothing about music to convince you to take back your name and your music. But what if she was wrong? What if they're all wrong? That music that they enjoy, it might be good enough for them, but anyone who knows anything about music will know better. You've been spoiled there, at that academy of yours. They've fooled you into thinking you're worth something. Eventually they'll know better. Everyone will know better. And you'll always know better."

"Hey, lady," Soul said. "Shut up for a second and answer me this. If I take your fucking head off right here, will she wake up?"

"Your time is limited, boy. Wield that fancy title of yours and find out."

* * *

"Well, it seems you're as useless as you feared."

Maka's eyes opened to a sea of blackness. It was too dark to see anything. She took stock of her position, and realized she couldn't move any part of her body below her shoulders. She felt weightless, suspended in midair, although there was no ceiling or ground for her to see.

"What's going on?" It seemed she could still use her voice. That was good, at least, she supposed. "Where's Soul? Soul!" She couldn't feel his wavelength anywhere. Panic began to course through her. Where was he? "Soul!"

"He's fine, for the moment. Fighting for you, as usual. But let's talk about you, Maka. You play the part of the helpless princess quite well. I can see why you'd think you're holding him back."

"Where the hell are you?"

"Near enough. So tell me, when do you think he'll finally tire of you? When do you think everyone will tire of you? Poor Soul, having to baby you all the time. He can't even tell you his real feelings, can he? Those daddy issues of yours seem to have created a myriad of insecurities, little girl. And you think they'll tolerate them forever? What do you have to redeem yourself? Strength? Not even that, it seems. You're hopeless. And they're all going to leave you."

"I don't need you dissecting my brain, witch," Maka spat. "That position's been reserved anyway."

"Yes, of course. The good doctor. Does he really respect you, do you think?"

"Can it," Maka replied simply. There had to be a way out of this situation. She just had to think.

"Not even going to defend yourself? Do you need your weapon to do even that for you? It's too bad you need him more than he needs you."

"Shut up, you don't know anything," Maka said. Ignore her, Maka, she thought. You have to get out of here. Ignore her.

"I know everything that you know."

She couldn't help but respond. The words left her mouth before she could stop them. "Then you should know he's not leaving me. He promised."

"So he says. But men promise things all the time, don't they?"

Maka grit her teeth. "Soul's not… he's not my father." Her voice felt so small.

"You don't sound so sure, little girl. But I am. He'll find someone better than you soon enough, and then what will that promise mean to him? He doesn't need you anymore. You need to prepare yourself to be alone. Isn't that what you've been doing? Pushing him away all this time?"

"I don't want to push him away," Maka said softly.

"But it's the right thing to do. For him, and for you. It'll hurt less for the both of you that way, when you finally set him free." Maka felt something like a hand brush against her cheek. It was warm, and without thinking, she leaned into the touch. "Look at you now, little one. You're safe here. No one can hurt you in this place. Soul will be free to move on, and see how warm it is here without him."

Warm. She felt snugly cocooned, wrapped up like on those rainy days when all she wanted was to lie in bed and read a good book and escape from the world. Yes, there was something warm wrapped around her. She could feel the soft threads against her skin, now that she thought about it.

What was it the witch had said? "My webs have touched your bare flesh"? Creepy, but the most relevant piece of information she had right now. So whatever it was that had happened to her was because of her touching those webs back in the tunnels. And she'd said Soul was… fighting… without her, then. Damn it all. She was always doing this to him. It was better this way, for him to leave her here.

Wait. He'd touched those webs, too. He was a scythe at the time, but did that matter?

It was as if the witch sensed her thoughts. "Don't worry about your little partner."

"But you said he was fighting. Even if he doesn't have to worry about those webs… he's still in danger."

"And you think you can help him? You can't even help yourself. You'd only be a burden."

"He can't fight if he's trapped by your fucking cobwebs."

"Only the weak become ensnared by my webs, little girl. Unlike you, your weapon isn't foolish enough to fall for my tricks. He is the Last Death Scythe. He doesn't need you."

Maka chuckled. Then, sensing the sudden unease from her captor, she threw back her head and laughed. "That's where you're wrong." She grinned into the darkness. "Soul's a complete moron. And right now, he needs my help."

"You will not escape from here!"

Maka flinched as the world tilted suddenly sideways.

The apartment was quiet. She stood in the hallway, staring into Soul's empty room.

He'd been gone for three months now, and at first she still found herself calling for him to wake up in the morning as she made breakfast. Finally, mercifully, that habit died away. Then she'd stopped making breakfast. Sleeping seemed like a much sweeter option. Her dreams were soft, well-needed reprieves from the oppressive silence of their—now just her—apartment, and the disappointment of waking only drove her under the covers even more often. She woke only to eat or use the bathroom. Even the books lining her shelves couldn't seem to keep her eyes open.

She'd had to throw out the old couch, because she could still picture him sprawled out on the cushions, mindlessly flipping through channels and drumming his fingers on the armrest.

He stood in the doorway, baring his teeth at her in frustration. "Look, I've got better things to do than put up with all of your bullshit. You're not my meister anymore, you won't even let me go farther than hold your hand, and you think I'm supposed to stick around? Why the hell would I keep hanging around a needy, insecure little bitch like you?"

"I love you," she told him.

"Yeah, I know. It's obvious. Even Star can tell. So go cry to him about it. See you around, Albarn."

She sat on the new couch, hating its stiff cushions.

"Soul promised," she said.

The door slammed shut. That was three months ago.

"I'm covered in spider webs," she said.

That was important somehow. She knew it was. So she repeated it out loud, deliberating over each syllable as if it should mean something.

"Stop calling me. I don't have time for you anymore, alright? So knock it off."

She stared down at the phone in her hand.

"I'm happy right now. So please, Maka. Don't try to contact me anymore. I'm finally happy. I can't let you ruin this for me."

Cobwebs covered her entire apartment.

Where was Blair? Oh, right, she'd left a month after Soul had. She had more patience than Soul, at least, but even she knew a lost cause when she saw one. That was okay. Maka didn't have to buy fish anymore. She hated that smell.

Black Star wouldn't talk to her, either. He called her pathetic. A weakling. Tsubaki must think the same of her, Maka thought. Kid fired her when she stopped coming to work. The twin pistols and Tsubaki had dropped by at first, but that had stopped around the time Blair left.

"I can't move," Maka said. "Because of the cobwebs."

The webs. She'd saved Soul from a spider once, hadn't she? He'd been all tangled in the thread, like a puppet. She didn't want to be a puppet.

"I have to move," she said. She tried to move her arms, and found that she couldn't. She was wrapped in thick webbing. "I'm Maka Albarn, scythe meister, and I have to move. I can't let these spider webs stay here. I have to save Soul from the spider." That sounded about right.

"I have to save Soul, because I'm Maka Albarn, his partner," she tried again. "He promised he would follow me wherever I go. Even if he breaks that promise to me, I'll still be Maka Albarn, and I'll still protect him. Now _move_."

She stood up.

* * *

Maka opened her eyes. She was lying on the wet cave floor in a heap, and Soul was fighting the spider queen. It wasn't going very well. She was collapsing parts of the ceiling and also somehow breathing fire. And the spiders were chattering, tearing his eyes away from the battle, distracting him. She knew then that her suspicions were correct. He'd be trapped soon, too.

There was no time to waste, then. She shot to her feet and took off in a sprint. "Soul!"

He turned his head sharply. "Maka?!" An ugly gash on his forehead was dripping blood down the planes of his face. The closer she came, the more wounds she took in.

"Maka, the spiders won't shut up," he panted as she neared him.

"I know. Annoying, huh?"

"You little monster! How dare you!"

"Shut it, bitch," Maka commanded. She turned her attention back to her weapon partner. His movements were becoming sluggish, and he just barely moved out of the way of a falling rock. "Soul, I need you to resonate with me."

"I'm so tired," he murmured.

"Soul! Right now!"

"I'm sorry I'm not strong enough on my own."

She pulled him out of the way of a blast of flames.

"Soul, transform!" She threw her wavelength outward in a panic, blindly searching for him. He was so faint, she could barely feel him. His consciousness was fading. But to her relief, he still reached back for her. It was a gentle, polite touch. Uncertain, asking permission, expecting rejection. Her soul surrounded his greedily, tugging and pulling to feel more of his wavelength. There was a brief moment of muted surprise, then contentment, and then his wavelength was washing over her in excitement. She would have mockingly compared it to a puppy after the long absence of its favorite human if she weren't almost overcome with relief herself. She could feel the spider webs clinging to his soul, and let the heat of their resonance melt them away. His music filled her heart and took her breath away. She could hear how happy he was, how relieved he was that she was safe, how sorry he was that he ever let her think he might leave her because the very thought filled him with an anxiety deeper than any stage fright he'd ever felt—

"Soul," she breathed. "Let's kick this spider woman's ass. Yeah?"

He grinned. "Hell yeah."

She couldn't understand the spiders anymore. They disintegrated under her blade too fast that she could barely hear their chatter anyway. She followed the same pattern as before, moving her circle closer to the spider queen. She wasn't sitting passively this time, but that suited Maka just fine. The tumbling rocks from the ceiling and the haphazard fire bursts were taking out a sizeable chunk of the spider army, while Maka seemed to be dodging them just fine. This only served to further enrage the corrupted woman.

"Her fire takes a moment to recharge," Soul said after a few minutes.

"Yeah, I noticed. We got this, Soul."

She'd emitted an ear-splitting roar, followed by another gust of fire, when Maka planted a foot in the face of one of the spiders, spring-boarding off of its back to lunge directly at the spider queen.

"I told you I'd be taking your soul," Maka sneered. The spider woman's lip curled, smoke pouring from her open mouth.

"You horrible little girl." With a single leg, she brought down more of the ceiling.

Maka beamed as the rocks fell safely behind her. "Too late. You can't bring down the rocks on top of you, now can you?"

"But I can still run you through." The spider queen lifted another leg.

"Now, Maka!" Soul shouted.

Maka's arm launched forward, the blade of the scythe slicing a clean arc directly through the monster's neck. The leg thrust forward even as the spider queen's head slid from her shoulders. Maka hissed as it grazed her shoulder, landing on her feet before the witch's still-twitching corpse. Soul transformed, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to steady her while being careful of the wound. She twisted her head to smile up at him. "We did it."

He smirked back at her, loosening his hold on her so that she could turn to face him directly. "Yeah. We did. And we're cool now. Right?"

She wanted very much to kiss him in that moment. Instead, she nodded. "Yeah. We're cool." A sharp pain shot out from her shoulder. "Shit!"

"Maka?"

"I'm fine. Let's grab that soul and get out of he-ahh! Soul! Put me down, I can walk just fine!"

"Yeah, but then you'll run into something in one of these tunnels and hurt yourself more. It's better if I just carry you."

"Idiot."

She cradled the tainted soul in her arms as Soul carried her through the tunnels. "I'm not some weak princess, you know."

"Believe me, I know. It's just… can you just humor me, okay?"

"Whatever the spiders said, it wasn't true," Maka told him.

He snorted. "Maybe I just wanna carry you. Lay off. Don't think too much, nerd."

The silence stretched on for a while.

"Hey, Maka?"

"Yeah?"

"I promised you I'd follow you wherever, right?"

"… Yeah."

"So don't try to make it so difficult for me from now on. It's because of you that I can stand on my own. But that doesn't mean I want to be on my own now, yeah? I'm always gonna reach for you. So don't be too far away, alright? And don't stop reaching for me, too. Okay?"

Heh. Stupid Soul. Maka smiled, and let her head relax against his chest. She could feel his pulse thrumming against her cheek. Her head felt a little light, and the skin was burning where his warm shirt touched her face, but it was a pleasant feeling. "Okay, Soul."

* * *

.

.

hi sorry i haven't written things, here is a thing and know that there will be other things hopefully soon because it is summer! the title is from the song by bright eyes because i can't do my own titles apparently?

.

thank you for reading :)


End file.
